As the New York coronavirus lockdown loomed on Sun., March 22, young documentary filmmakers Jeff Brenner and Adam Juegos raced around in their car to help two older Lower East Side legends, Jim Power a.k.a. “The Mosaic Man” and documentarian Clayton Patterson, stock up on food.
Governor Cuomo has ordered nonessential businesses to close and has urged residents to stay home to protect their health as the highly contagious virus continues to spread through the city.
People can still step outside for essential things, such as shopping for food, going to the pharmacy or walking or doing solitary exercise while maintaining social distancing. But they are encouraged to stay indoors as much as possible to protect their health and that of their loved ones, and also to help “flatten the curve” — meaning slow the spread of the disease — so that hospitals are not overwhelmed by a surge of critically ill patients.
Brenner and Juegos are also currently in the midst of doing a documentary on Power, who is renowned for his “Mosaic Trail” of tile-and-glass-bead-encrusted street lampposts wending through the East Village.
To watch their “NYC COVID-19: Food Drop for Legends of the LES” video, click here.
A number of people in my building fled NYC in fear abandoning their neighborhood at the very time of its greatest need. So I’m particularly grateful to these two and the others, like our cops, mailmen, grocery workers, etc. who are sticking around and sticking up for our community. To them I say “thank you and stay safe!”
You guys are magic. Thank you and continue working and doing what you do.
Excellent story and the doc is sobering yet uplifting. Thank you, Village Sun and Lincoln!!
Thanks, Stephen! Big thanks and credit of course to Adam and Jeff for making and sharing the video, and to Clayton and Jim Power.